Archaos Glastonbury 1990 (see caption below picture)

Description

This 360 panorama was taken from the top of the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival 1990. You cannot see the main stage where the bands play. The stage you can see with the oil drums is built on top of the canopy of the main stage .

Don't just use the navigation button, try clicking around the edges of the image to 'coax' the next frame. The image does not join up at the back of the stage so you have to go back the way you came to see the other side - try it you'll see what I mean. It's just like being there (No it's not - Ed).

The band on stage is Hothouse Flowers and the mess all over the Pyramid is the Archaos set. French circus, Archaos, are the only non-musical act to headline the main stage, and the only act to headline three days on the trot. You can see the jib of their crane at stage right, and the tightrope running over the catering tent to the oak tree at stage left. You can't see the cars hoisted on each side of the Pyramid.

The festival has grown considerably since these pictures were taken and the main arena is now a tent-free zone. This Pyramid was made of telegraph poles and clad with industrial sheeting, it burned down a couple of years later. The replacement is a very grown-up affair and much better suited as a stage but lacks the character of this incarnation.

The empty fields to the rear of the stage now accommodate the Other Stage, The Glade, the Interstage area (the backstage media, luvvies and ligging zone), The Park, Dance Area and shed loads of camping.

At the time this panorama was taken and somewhere towards the skyline to the south of the site, the travellers are gathering. Tomorrow the crusties and Special Brew crews will come down the hill and take out their frustrations on the larger festival, which will result in a cancellation of the event for the next year and start the process of changing the event forever. I will not forget the sight of a burning Land Rover in an otherwise peaceful green field; the burned-out CND welfare cabin; or the line of riot police complete with crash helmets and plastic shields, sweeping down the main arena to secure the north side of the site. This is the end of the 'middle age' of Glastonbury.